Various types of auditory prosthesis systems have been developed to assist patients who have severe (e.g., complete) hearing loss. For example, cochlear implant systems may provide a sense of hearing for sensorineural hearing loss patients by providing electrical stimulation representative of sound directly to stimulation sites within the cochlea. As another example, electro-acoustic stimulation (“EAS”) systems may assist patients with some degree of residual hearing in the low frequencies (e.g., below 1000 Hz) by providing acoustic stimulation representative of low frequency audio content and electrical stimulation representative of high frequency content.
Many auditory prosthesis systems include a sound processor apparatus (e.g., a behind-the-ear (“BTE”) sound processing unit, a body worn device, etc.) configured to be located external to the patient. The sound processor apparatus may perform a variety of functions, such as processing audio signals presented to the patient, controlling an operation one or more implantable devices (e.g., one or more cochlear implants), and providing power to the one or more implantable devices.
A conventional sound processor apparatus includes a dedicated power supply module that receives a source voltage signal provided by an external power source (e.g., a battery or a power source associated with a programming system) and converts the source voltage signal into regulated voltages used to operate various components of an auditory prosthesis system of which the sound processor apparatus is a part. Unfortunately, the dedicated power supply module occupies a relatively large amount of space within the sound processor apparatus. This may contribute to the sound processor apparatus being undesirably large, bulky, and aesthetically unappealing.